GA Mom Pleads In Beating Death Of Daughter, 8

NORCROSS, GA — A 31-year-old mother has been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to beating to death her 8-year-old daughter, who she initially claimed disappeared from a Norcross hotel.

The Gwinnett County District Attorney's Office on Wednesday said Brittany Nicole Hall pled guilty to murder and other charges in connection with the November 2021 death of her daughter, Amari Hall.

The young girl was living at the hotel with her two younger siblings, her mother and her mother's girlfriend, Celeste Owens, prosecutors said.

The couple reported Amari Hall missing on Nov. 19, 2021, saying they awakened around 10 a.m. and noticed the child was gone, prosecutors said.

However, prosecutors said internet searches and surveillance footage told a different story. They say Brittany Hall and Owens abused the children.

When investigators went through Owens' phone, prosecutors said they found that day's web searches of the following:

• “What to do when a child just doesn’t listen”
• “Lakes near me”
• “How do sewers on the streets work”
• “Why do kids run away”
• “How do I report someone missing”
• “U-Haul: Customer Account”

Additionally, prosecutors said at least a dozen videos showing the "couple beating all three children" were recorded on a nanny-cam and uploaded to the phone.

Surveillance footage showed Owens renting a U-Haul van that she then drove to DeKalb County, where Amari Hall's body was located in a wooded area, prosecutors said.

Owens was found guilty of malice murder, felony murder aggravated battery, aggravated assault, child cruelty and other charges in December 2024, prosecutors said. She was sentenced to life plus 235 consecutive years.

Brittany Hall recently pled guilty to felony murder, 11 counts of cruelty to children, concealing the death of another and making false statements, prosecutors said. She was sentenced to life in prison.

“This mother failed to protect her children and joined in the abuse,” Gwinnett County District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said in a news release. “This ended tragically. We continue to pray that her siblings can heal from the abuse they endured and that this plea brings closure to them and their extended family.”